Beauty Blog

Back when I was posting my perfume wish list I said “I am still looking for the perfect perfume that smells like wonderfully roasted coffee beans”. Well, look what I’ve got now! Café Noir by Ava Luxe! You don’t get much more coffee than that.

Although first it starts with a real big dose of lavender. It’s pretty intense (although, everything about Café Noir is intense). Then I get more spices, cardamom and such things. Okay, but where’s my coffee? And then, a few minutes in it hits me. Wham, bam freshly ground coffee beans! I love it! Sadly the heart note of coffee doesn’t last forever. I mean, don’t get me wrong, the perfume still smells amazing and s0rt of like a whole coffee shop, but the strong coffee note is the heart, not the base. The base is all things that’s good in perfumery (if you ask me, at least) it’s really dark smokey amber and some sandalwood I think, but not too much. Patchouli, vanilla, something on the sharper side of woody,…

Basically it smells like walking into a coffee shop in fall. It’s not Christmas yet, there’s no cinnamon to be found (for cardamom with cinnamon go to Kenzo Jungle instead), but there are spicy cookies being made, and cappuccino is consumed. Some lattes are there with vanilla syrup, but they are in the minority. Lots of people are drinking black espresso. The interior is made from unpolished wood. The whole thing is almost overwhelming, but also cozy – if you enjoy the smell of coffee, that is.

Since you can only order this perfume from the website if you’re interested I think you should check out Mugler’s A*Men first before you blind buy. Because A*Men is similar, but not as pronounced as Café Noir. So if A*Men makes you go ‘oh hell no!’ this one here is probably not for you. I think you can also order samples from Ava Luxe, too.

Overall: I love this, it is one of my favorites ever and it marks my slow descent into niche ‘hell’. 😉